CHICAGO, IL: Sikh Religious Society hosted a two-day conference on November 11 & 12, 2017 at the Sikh Gurdwara in Palatine, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, to implement "Mool Nanakshahi Calendar."
The conference kicked off with a welcome dinner to honor the distinguished speakers of the conference as well as the participating guests from various Sikh organizations in the US, Canada, India, and Australia. The dinner held at Ashyana Banquets in Downers Grove Illinois and managed by S. Amardev Singh, featured introductions and a brief synopsis of the range of topics the speakers would cover during the two day conference program.
The focus of the conference was to preserve the unique Sikh Heritage and prepare the Sikh Panth (community) for the next millennia. The expert speakers explained the history and importance of the Mool Nanakshahi Calendar. Sardar Pal Singh Purewal of Canada, the brain behind the Mool Nanakshahi Calendar talked about the efforts he has made to spread awareness about the practicality of the calendar and emphasized how important it is for our next generations to adopt it.
Bibi Jasbir Kaur (Ohio) threw light on the need of passing our heritage on to the next generation in order to secure Sikh identity. She talked about how important it is for kids to understand and apply Gurbani (words of Sikh Gurus) in their daily life. “It takes a Village to raise a child, it takes a nation to raise a Sikh,” said Bibi Jasbir Kaur.
Among others who spoke at the conference were S. Sarabjit Singh (Sacramento) , Prof. Niranjan Singh Dhesi, S. Surinder Singh (Talking Punjab) and Harkirat Singh Ajnoha (Australia).
The speakers stressed upon the significant role of the Sikh community overseas in accomplishing this mission. The conference featured a presentation explaining how the Mool Nanakshahi Calendar works and helps maintain the constancy of the dates of Sikh annual religious observances and celebrations. Accurate and consistent recurrence of these Sikh historical dates and preservation of Gurbani's relevance is of the utmost importance for the Sikh generations to come. According to the Bikrami (lunar) calendar the dates change every year, throwing seasons out of whack in future.
"The Mool Nanakshahi Calendar will forever fix the ever drifting Sikh historical dates, currently observed by the Bikrami calendar, and synchronize these original and accurate dates with the Common Era (CE) tropical calendar," said Pal Singh Purewal the creator of the Nanakshahi calendar.
The resolutions passed in this conference entailed that, the Sikh scholars and SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) had already introduced the "Mool Nanakshahi Calendar", a tropical calendar conforming to Gurbani, on the 300th anniversary of "Khalsa Saajna Divas" in 1999.
Whereas, many Sikh organizations have already been following Nanakshahi Calendar for many years, except for the three dates - Guru Nanak's Birthday Gurpurab, Bandee Chhorrh Divas, and Holla-Muhalla.
So the Chicago conference emphasized to fully adopt and forever follow The "Mool Nanakshahi Calendar" and its methodology to observe Sikh historical annual events on the following fixed dates.
a. Guru Nanak's Parkaash (birthday) Divas on April 14th (1-Vaisaakh), the Vaisaakhi day.
b. Bandee Chhorrh Divas on February 12th (1-Phaggan).
c. Holla Muhalla on March 14th (1-Chet), Mool Nanakshahi New Year Day.
The conference ended with a call to all Sikh social, cultural, and religious organizations to unite to fully adopt and implement the "Mool Nanakshahi Calendar," and preserve it forever to cherish the unique Sikh heritage blessed by Baba Nanak the founder of Sikh faith.
Heeding the call of the conference, many Sikh Gurdwaras of Midwest America adopted these resolutions.